After the deaths of his father and brother only months apart, former Iowa State guard Kerwin Okoro announced in May his plans to transfer to Rutgers in order to be closer to his family.

Due to the circumstances surrounding his move Okoro, through a hardship petition, requested that the NCAA allow him to play for the Scarlet Knights immediately. His petition was denied.

The NCAA considers three areas when reviewing family hardship waivers:

1. The nature of the injury.
2. The athlete’s responsibilities relating to care of the family member.
3. The timing of the events.

Although, Okoro’s situation doesn’t fit into one of these blanket categories, you’d think the circumstances would warrant a NCAA exception. (Must we bring up the fact that they approved Trey Zeigler’s waiver to play immediately at Pitt due to his father getting fired as coach at his old school.)

Neither Rutgers nor the NCAA have released a statement, but Okoro did allude to his disappointment on Twitter

I’ll make the wise decision of staying off social networks today,cause if I express my feelings right now, I might just say the wrong thing

This is the second “side eye” moment by the NCAA so far this week! These inconsistencies are happening more and more, and I don’t expect them to change. When you have a system that makes and enforces the rules there are no checks and balances. No democracy in the NCAA. It’s a straight dictatorship baby!